What do Klingons dream about?

[ItIsGreen]

Just watching 'Rejoined' and I'd forgotten all about this little nugget from Worf. I always really liked the little one-liners and funny moments they gave him in TNG ("Good tea... nice house", finding Riker's unpalatable omelette "delicious" etc) and I'm glad they carried them on into DS9. For me this line stole the episode, and is probably one of my favourite Worf moments.

Everyone probably knows the bit I'm talking about anyway, but for those that don't know it offhand, Worf's trying (and failing) to appear enthusiastic about commanding the Defiant for a science expedition, and one of the scientists comments that "It's not exactly what every Klingon dreams about", which leads to the following exchange:

KIRA: "What do Klingons dream about?"
WORF: (in a very serious deadpan voice) "Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. No, it is better that you do not know. Excuse me." *walks off*

I love it when they make him seem alien and weird, but have fun with it too (and also show him as having a sense of humour).

 

[Relayer1]

Much the same as most people I presume.

Hacking ones enemies into bloody chunks and shagging their women...

 

[Leviathan]

Tribbles. It's ALL tribbles.

 

[ItIsGreen]

Much the same as most people I presume.

Hacking ones enemies into bloody chunks and shagging their women...

I read that in a yam-yam accent

I like to imagine they dream about dancing around in fields of pretty flowers and such...

 

[hux]

They dream of living in a society with a two dimensional, one-note culture... and Gagh.

 

[Catarina]

they dream of honor and kinky Klingon sex and never having to lose their culture to another ego centric race, the humans. They dream of a dental plan that actually repairs teeth instead of requiring a deductible on top of a monthly installment which at this time only covers shoddy repair.

 

[BillJ]

Kittens and fields of pretty, pretty flowers.

 

[Relayer1]

I read that in a yam-yam accent

I like to imagine they dream about dancing around in fields of pretty flowers and such...

Oo am yow cawlin a yam-yam ?

 

[E-DUB]

Electric sheep? No, that's androids.

 

[loghaD]

Every now and then, I suspect Worf is really just messing with the crew. To quote another exchange:

KIRA: I don't think I'll ever understand Klingons.
O'BRIEN: Don't worry about it, Major...nobody does. That's the way they like it.

However, if I were to try to think of an answer that would actually vindicate Worf's comment, I would perhaps refer to The Barge of the Dead, which is probably the closest thing we get to seeing a Klingon's dreamworld.
Brok'tan mentions the naj, which he describes as "the dream before dying". There she sees her crew being struck down by Klingons, and experiences her own death as well.

Now, the events of The Barge of the Dead are very particular, and it's unclear how much of it we are to take as fact. However, what if Klingon dreams, rather than helping a person to process and come to peace with recent stimuli, are instead meant to prepare them.

What if Klingon dreams are visions of failure, dishonor and death? In their dreams, Klingons see their friends betraying them, as a reminder to trust no one. They spot vulnerabilities in the ship's defenses, so that they will be wary of them in the future. They recall their mistakes and imagine how they might have led to catastrophe, so that they will be reminded to destroy their own weaknesses before they themselves are destroyed.

For humans, dreams are usually relaxing and meditative; the exception is nightmares, but even they serve some therapeutic purpose. Perhaps what makes Klingon dreams so terrifying is that they are not a respite from life's challenges, but a reminder of them.

[Language note: According to The Klingon Dictionary, naj (pronounced roughly like nudge) is a verb meaning "to dream".]

 

[HIjol]

I read that in a yam-yam accent

I like to imagine they dream about dancing around in fields of pretty flowers and such...

I read it in a "Schwarzenegger" voice...not so much.

they dream of honor and kinky Klingon sex and never having to lose their culture to another ego centric race, the humans. They dream of a dental plan that actually repairs teeth instead of requiring a deductible on top of a monthly installment which at this time only covers shoddy repair.

Toothbrushes fashioned of carbon-fiber nano-tubes, surely, with tri-tanium shafts. For the teeth...and the kinky Klingon sex.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Ballet.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Worf is not your typical Klingon. He barely has a sense of humor and exaggerates and romanticizes his culture based on shoddy memory and what he managed to learn about it while living on the human colony of Gaul.

He's the TNG/DS9 version of Dwight Schrute, and I hold his knowledge of Klingon culture and mores in the same vein of Dwight's knowledge of German culture and mores.

 

[HIjol]

Worf, Son of Schrute, Bearer of the Battle Beet?

 

[T'Girl]

Opera ... but everyone is off key.




.

 

[dahj]

Electric sheep?

Electric Targs.

 

[shapeshifter]

Tribbles. It's ALL tribbles.

Dreams, not nightmares. lol

 

[tomalak301]

Chilled bloodwine?

 

[USS Triumphant]

A former Klingon chancellor made a VERY bad deal with some Ferengi, and now all Klingons dream in advertising time that the Ferengi control. You would think that today was always a good day to die, too, if you spent the night before every one of your days bombarded with aggressive marketing for Slug-o-Cola and toenail fungus ads.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Bronies. The whole macho warrior thing is overcompensation to hide their extremely crippling self-esteem issues.